Sioux City Charrette, as a part of Iowa by Design

Sioux City, Iowa,
United States of America

As a part of the Blueprint for America initiative, the American Institute of Architects, Iowa Chapter organized  6 weekend charrettes of creative visioning in communities across Iowa.  In order to complete their goals, AIA Iowa partnered with the Iowa Architectural Foundation, which offers a Community Design Program.  This program sends a team of design industry professionals to communities throughout Iowa to offer design consultation and guidance.

The charrette progress often begins with learning some of the community’s history in order to better envision is future. In the late 1800s, Sioux City, IA was known for its impressive Stockyards, which were some of the largest in the county at that time. The “Yards” proved instrumental in developing Sioux City as a center for commerce, but the city has moved into new era of development and new ventures are being explored. The Tyson Event Center was recently opened in December of 2003, for example. As the city continues to grow and develop, its citizens are beginning to realize the need to improve the urban environment in order to foster new business and revitalize downtown. Recently, Sioux City has adopted a broad plan outlining ways to further develop their downtown area and encourage more commerce and industry for the town. As a part of this plan, the city applied to IAF’s Community Design Program in order to gain a new perspective in designing downtown.

Project Overview

As a part of the Blueprint for America initiative, the American Institute of Architects, Iowa Chapter organized 6 weekend charrettes of creative visioning in communities across Iowa. In order to complete their goals, AIA Iowa partnered with the Iowa Architectural Foundation, which offers a Community Design Program. This program sends a team of design industry professionals to communities throughout Iowa to offer design consultation and guidance.

The charrette progress often begins with learning some of the community’s history in order to better envision is future. In the late 1800s, Sioux City, IA was known for its impressive Stockyards, which were some of the largest in the county at that time. The “Yards” proved instrumental in developing Sioux City as a center for commerce, but the city has moved into new era of development and new ventures are being explored. The Tyson Event Center was recently opened in December of 2003, for example. As the city continues to grow and develop, its citizens are beginning to realize the need to improve the urban environment in order to foster new business and revitalize downtown. Recently, Sioux City has adopted a broad plan outlining ways to further develop their downtown area and encourage more commerce and industry for the town. As a part of this plan, the city applied to IAF’s Community Design Program in order to gain a new perspective in designing downtown.

In one extensive weekend in April of 2007, Sioux City gained an impressive amount of advice from a team of 11 design industry professionals explaining how design could improve their community. The team comprised of three landscape architects, one landscape architecture student, one traffic engineer, four architects, an officer from Iowa State University’s Extension Office, and the Executive Director of IAF, Kirsten Anderson. During this weekend, more than forty residents of Sioux City and the design team worked together to take stock of Sioux City’s downtown and then envision some goals for it’s future. The city and team decided to focus on the city’s growing western downtown.

In a new development for Sioux City, the Iowa Department of Transportation has decided to build a new exit ramp from Interstate 29 that would lead directly to western downtown Sioux City. In order to ready themselves for the influx of people and traffic from the now convenient exit, the city has recognized the need to beautify the downtown areas in close proximity to where the new exit ramp will be constructed. In order to improve the appearance of western downtown, the team recommended that parking be removed to the rear and buildings should be placed in the foreground, closest to the most traveled streets. In addition, the team advised that parking areas be camouflaged from pedestrian view by adding a row of greenery or public art between pedestrian walkways and parking lots.

Sioux City’s western downtown area is located to the northwest of the Missouri River, directly to the north of I-29, and just north of the Tyson Events Center. Citizens were concerned with the pedestrian access connecting downtown to the scenic riverfront district. The design team suggested constructing decorative bridges that would safely allow pedestrians to move comfortably between the two areas. The addition of new walking and biking trails around the perimeter of downtown and the riverfront area was also proposed by the team.

The design team also suggested “smart planning” additions to downtown. This included adding “mixed-use” buildings with residential living areas in the upper levels and offices or retail opportunities below. The charrette team also proposed offering incentives, such as tax abatement, to residents and business people settling downtown. A parking ramp was suggested as a way to limit the amount of concrete surface area visible in parking areas. It was recommended that the city encourage the addition of a new corporate headquarters to the downtown community in order to foster economic growth.

One of downtown Sioux City’s major problems is its lack of greenspace. Citizens explained that they wanted to add more greenery to their downtown. The team suggested adding more pedestrian friendly streetscapes in their urban environment. This would include planters with vibrant flowers, benches to provide space to relax, and trees to create shade and additional color. The possibility of adding banners, public art, historic lighting, and/or signifiers/markers indicating directions and neighborhoods was also suggested. The team recommended the installation of “pocket parks,” small green spaces with benches along city streets. Deciding upon one comprehensive and cohesive design theme or concept for all of these “pedestrian accessories” improves and unifies the appearance of downtown.

Furthermore, the design team proposed adding a green “corridor” to their western downtown environment by adding trees along major throughways, like Pierce Street. These corridors encourage drivers to stop downtown and spend time and money in the community. Corridors also provide a sense of direction for travel and draw drivers and pedestrians to retailers and businesses located downtown. The addition of a center focal point for the corridor, perhaps a fountain, would help unify the downtown area. These proposed additions should all include a cohesive design and perhaps branding to unify the design concepts. Sioux City has a history of using terra cotta for details inside and outside buildings and this should be continued when installing the design team’s proposed additions.

Although the design team was able to provide quite a lot of guidance to the Sioux City, they initially experienced some challenges in their visioning process. The city had not originally focused on an area of consideration and wanted advice about quite a large piece of their city. The team was forced to narrow the margins to a focused area of downtown, so that they would better serve the community and make much more specific proposals.

Everyone involved felt the weekend was a success. As Rodger Caudron, the Executive Director of Downtown Partners Sioux City, said in a survey evaluating the charrette, the design team was of “excellent quality” and had “great ideas.” He added, “The team seemed to mesh together well.” The charrette weekend was a successful meeting to envision a new possible future for the look and feel of western downtown Sioux City.

Additional Files

Project Narrative
Sioux City Final Presentation